


History Repeating

by writetherest



Category: Lost
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-12
Updated: 2013-08-12
Packaged: 2017-12-23 06:35:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/923144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writetherest/pseuds/writetherest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>And maybe it's the fact that this whole situation is just fucked up or maybe deep down he knows they're never gonna see Locke again or maybe it's just the way the moon is shining on the water and hitting her hair and eyes, but he knows then, when he looks at her, that he's gonna be the one who gets her back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	History Repeating

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Rewriting History Ficathon prompt: Juliet Burke, _she takes the first sub home_

  
"You'll be fine." She tells him, like she believes it, and he almost lets it go. But he just can't.

"Maybe… but who's gonna get my back?"

She's silent for a long time, like she's thinking about that, but then she looks up at him and there's something in her eyes that's so intense that he almost has to look away. "Who's gonna get mine?"

It's barely above a whisper, but it cuts him through. And maybe it's the fact that this whole situation is just fucked up or maybe deep down he knows they're never gonna see Locke again or maybe it's just the way the moon is shining on the water and hitting her hair and eyes, but he knows then, when he looks at her, that he's gonna be the one who gets her back. That he has to be the one to get her back. In all senses of the phrase.

"Well, I guess that'd be me."

The next day, they both board the sub.

**

When they arrive in Tahiti, they both take several long minutes to just breathe in the air. It already feels different, being off the island, and they both revel in it.

Then, reality starts to sink in. "So how in the hell're we supposed to get back to the States?" he asks.

Juliet just stares at him. "I thought you were supposed to have my back?" She's teasing, he realizes, but it's also the truth.

"Who can tell me where the nearest airport is?"

**

He flirts his way into two seats for them on a plane to Miami. He doesn't even consider it a con, because it was just too easy.

There's no kind of security at the airport and they don't have any luggage, so they're on the plane in no time.

When the wheels leave the ground, he grabs Juliet's hand out of reflex. She squeezes it, telling him that she's got his back without ever saying the words.

**

It's strange, being back in the States, and what he'd said that night on the dock is true. It's 1974 and that's certainly different from 2004.

They've got no money and only the clothes on their back when they arrive in Miami but he's still got the ability to run a good con, an actual con, thank you very much, so they end up with a car and five hundred bucks pretty easily. Juliet doesn't say anything when he's running the con, but he's pretty sure she doesn't approve. Just like she didn't seem to approve of his methods of securing them their airline tickets.

Still, she climbs into the passenger seat, and he swears that her lips are curled upwards, so he guesses that she's sticking with him. At least for a little longer.

"Where to, Blondie?" He asks, turning the key.

Her answer isn't surprising to him in the least.

**

He eases the beat up old Ford to a stop just down the block from the address she'd given him. Once it's parked, he turns to look at her. She looks tired, and he can't say he blames her, because they haven't exactly had time to sleep. He'd driven the whole way here, but even then, she hadn't slept. She'd sung along to the radio quietly and made idle chatter with him, just keeping him company. It's the most he's ever heard her talk, and even though it was all inane stuff, he's finding that he kind of likes the sound of her voice. Either way, he knows that she's gotta be just as exhausted as he is. But she also looks determined.

"Juliet –" he starts, but she shakes her head and climbs out of the car, heading down the block.

He follows, quickly. He's gotta have her back, after all.

**

She stops short of the address, and it doesn't take him long to figure out why. There, in the driveway, a little blonde girl pedals a bicycle while an older brunette watches. "That's it. That's it. You've got it, Juliet! You've got it!" The brunette cheers, her breath fogging in the cold air.

"Rachel." He hears Juliet whisper from beside him.

"Look at me, Rachel! Look at me!" The younger Juliet laughs.

"Girls! Time to come in and warm up." The call comes from inside the house, and all three girls turn at the sound of their mother's voice.

"Coming, Mom!" The two younger girls call. The bike is abandoned in their haste to go inside, their hands linking together as they run up the steps of the house.

"Rachel." Juliet whispers again, watching them disappear into the house. For a moment it looks like she might go after them.

"Juliet." He says, telling her that she can't, that they can't interfere, without actually doing so.

She walks forward, kneeling down beside the bike, running her fingers through the tassels on the handlebars. He alternately watches her and the door, making sure that they aren't discovered. The sun begins to set as she weaves her fingers through the ribbons again and again. She's visibly shaking, but he can't tell if it's from the cold or something else. Finally she rises and walks back to the car.

He follows her, and if he notices the tear tracks on her cheeks, he doesn't say anything about them.

"Just drive, James."

**

It's only after they're 100 miles away from the address she'd given him that he starts to look for a place to stay the night. He finds a cheap motel and pays for a single room. There's only one bed, but they're both so exhausted that they just fall into it.

The next morning when he wakes up, James feels Juliet's body pressed securely to his back.

**

He manages to con them a free breakfast at the little diner across from the motel and Juliet doesn't even lift an eyebrow or mention the money that they've split and each have stashed somewhere on their body. She just eats the food without speaking.

**

They sit silently in the car, staring out at the road.

"You were right." She says.

He ignores the comment and pulls out onto the road.

**

They end up in New York City. It's the easiest place he can think of for them to survive for a while. The people are easy to con and they can blend in with the masses.

They end up with a tiny apartment above a deli that smells of pastrami, barely has heat, and only has one bed. But for whatever reason, they realize that they're better off together than they are apart, and so they stay together.

Each morning when he wakes up, Juliet is pressed against his back, and the memory of Kate fades farther from his mind.

**

In March, he surprises her by coming home and holding up two tickets. "How do ya feel about _Grease_?" He asks.

"What?" She's standing in front of their tiny stove, her hair in a messy pony tail, stirring something.

" _Grease_. You wanna go tonight?"

"To see _Grease_? On Broadway?"

"Nah, to see the movie that ain't been made yet."

"Who did you con to get those?" She asks. As far as she knows, he hasn't been conning as much lately. They've gotten a pretty good amount of cash saved up now, and they've both found jobs in the city. Waitressing is a far cry from being a doctor, but she doesn't mind so much. And he's been loading trucks for a delivery company. Sometimes he comes home cursing the job, but he always goes back the next day, which makes her proud of him. He's trying to be better.

"I didn't con no one. I just thought ya might like a night out. If you don't…" he moves to toss the tickets in the trash, but she intercepts him, wraps her hand around his wrist.

"Hey." He looks at her. "I'm sorry. I'd love to go see _Grease_ on Broadway tonight."

He nods, goes to move around her, but she keeps her hand on his wrist. "You know this mean you've gotta dress up, right?"

**

Their seats are pretty good and the songs are familiar. Sitting next to him in the darkened theatre, she can pretend that this is New York City in 2004 and that they're watching a revival of the show, instead of watching the original run in 1974. She hums along and swears that she hears him too, every once in a while. For the first time since getting off the submarine, she feels normal.

After the show, James takes her hand as they work their way out of the theatre. He doesn't let go, even after they're out of the crowds of people.

She kisses him outside their apartment door and then whispers her thanks for the evening. It's the first time she's ever kissed him.

That night, he reaches behind him and pulls her arm over him, linking their hands together.

**

On April 5th, Juliet returns to their apartment to find James holding a wrapped present in his hand. He says nothing, just hands it to her.

She opens it to reveal a brand new copy of _Carrie_. Her jaw drops open. "James?"

"I was walkin' by a bookstore and saw it and thought, well, there's that book that Juliet's always talkin' about, so..."

She knows for a fact that she's only ever mentioned the book once, on their first day back in the States, when he'd driven her to one of her childhood homes and she'd talked to help keep him awake. She also knows, because it was her favorite book, that today was the day it was first released to the public. It wasn't just a coincidence that he bought it today.

She lets the book fall to the floor as she hugs him tightly, burying her head in his neck.

**

"Who do you wanna be?" He asks her one night.

"What?"

"Well, we ain't exactly got any papers - no birth certificates, no social security numbers. We don't exist. Or, we do, but we ain't them. I can't say I'm James Ford, born in 1968. It don't work that way. So we gotta become new people."

"And how do you propose we do that, James?" She asks him, her voice cooler than it's been in a while.

"You let me worry 'bout that, Blondie. You just tell me who you wanna be."

She's silent for a long time, but he just waits it out, as he's learned to do. Same as she's learned to do for him. "You think we should change our names?"

"I think last names. I was considering just going by James Sawyer but…" He doesn't finish the thought and she doesn't push him. She knows what it is he doesn't say.

"What about White? Juliet White."

After Carrie, he thinks, and he wonders if she picked it just because it's her favorite book, or if maybe the fact he bought it for her has anything to do with it. "I think that sounds real pretty."

"What about you, James? Who do you want to be?"

He doesn't know how to answer that question. All he knows is that he doesn't want to be Sawyer anymore. But he hasn't been him, not since he and Juliet left the island. To her, he's always been James.

"I ain't quite sure about that."

"Well," Juliet says, all nonchalant, like she's just talking about what she bought at the store that day, "you could always be James White. If you can't think of anything else."

"Yeah?"

"I've got your back, James. Always."

They make love for the first time that night. A week later, they've got all the documents they need, bearing the names James and Juliet White.

**

They stay in New York until March of 1975, when James decides they need a change of scenery. Juliet's fine with this, so they hop in the same old beat up Ford, and end up driving across the country. James acts like he doesn't know where they're going, but Juliet knows him well enough by now to know that he's got a plan in mind.

On April 3rd they stop in Albuquerque. On April 4th, James dresses up in a nice suit and shaves and leaves her with a kiss. When he comes back, he's grinning from ear to ear.

"What did you do?"

He tosses a paper in her direction. "Bought Microsoft."

"What?!" Her voice goes high pitched as she grabs the paper and begins reading quickly.

"Okay, well, maybe not the whole company or nothin' but… I'm now officially a share holder. From the bottom up."

"James, how did you do this?"

He laughs. "We're gonna be rich, Julie. We're gonna be rich."

**

When 1976 rolls around, he starts thinking about what will happen that summer. He thinks of his mother and father and the images that he still can't get out of his head. Everything else from his past, everything from the island and before, seems to have faded somehow in his memory. Like maybe all of that was just a dream he had and that this life here and now with Juliet is all that there's ever been. But the things he saw while he was hiding under that bed, they stay with him, as vivid as the day he witnessed them.

He considers hunting down Sawyer now, taking care of him before he can wreak havoc on all of their lives. But he thinks about what might happen, what might change, if he does that. And he realizes that if he does that now, then he might never meet Juliet in the future. And that's not a chance he's willing to take.

So he makes it through the summer by allowing her to hold him tighter at night. And when the time comes, he drives to Alabama, to a town close enough, and has Juliet buy a newspaper. She clips out the picture of his mother and father and throws the rest of the paper away.

**

They bet on the Cowboys in the '78 Super Bowl and make a ridiculous amount of money. The Microsoft money is also starting to come in, although they know that in a few years, they'll be richer than they could ever imagine.

"Where do you wanna live, Blondie?"

They end up in a cabin in Colorado. It's secluded, like their own little world. And that suits them just fine.

**

"You weren't wrong." He says into her hair one night when she's half asleep.

"Hmm?"

"You said that day, after we saw you and Rachel, that you were wrong. You weren't."

She comes fully awake at those words. "James."

"I knew it, even that day, I knew it. If we had stayed… I don't know what woulda happened. But I know that it couldn't beat this."

"It might've been just as good. It might've been better."

"No."

"You tellin' me you'd do it again?"

"Yep." He nods.

"Me too." She says, leaning up and kissing him. "Me too."  



End file.
